Come together, right now, over what? : an analysis of the processes of democratization and participatory governance of water and sanitation services in Dodowa, Ghana

Abstract: Delivering essential services to burgeoning peri-urban cities in the Sub-Sahara will only become an increasing challenge, as the population in this region is expected to double by 2050. Finding effective governance arrangements, institutional settings and building participatory arenas that give a greater voice to citizens and foster greater responsiveness from democratic authorities is a delicate endeavour, fraught with difficult trade-offs. Critical political ecology provides analytical channels to investigate the interplay between water and sanitation management, power and knowledge. An investigation of the process of decentralization and participatory governance of water and sanitation services at the local level was conducted in the peri-urban city of Dodowa, Ghana. The suburbs included in this case study comprised of two suburbs with an established community water and sanitation committee (WATSAN) and four suburbs with no such committee. A qualitative investigation via semi-structured interviews, informal discussions and narrative walks, using mixed sampling methods revealed a very complex picture. Analysis was conducted based on a framework elaborated from a literature review of decentralization, participatory governance and political ecology theory. My results have shown that institutionalized local democracy in Dodowa has created participatory spaces with a very narrow mandate and limited capacity to evolve and adapt to changing local needs. WATSAN committees have failed to foster an inclusive participatory arena and provide a louder local political voice around locally defined priorities. Grassroots-derived participatory arenas are a promising alternative for strengthening local political voice, but more resources, power and discretion need to be afforded to local governments in order for them to become more responsive to citizen voices. A more detailed discussion around the context-specific barriers to democratization and how grassroots civic engagement can be fostered is included throughout the pages of this thesis.